Are You Fish or Flotsam; Children’s Bible Lesson
Are you fish or flotsam?
Jesus teaches choices in the Parable of the Net.
Choose to be a fish so you don’t get thrown away like trashy flotsam.
Are You Fish or Flotsam?
One day Jesus told his disciples a new parable story.
The new story was about a fishing net. You see, some of the disciples were fishermen, so they could easily understand what Jesus meant by this new parable.
This is the story:
The sun shot the first rays of morning over the horizon.
As the sky lightened, the fishermen saw no clouds reflecting back the sun’s rays. It would be a beautiful day.
“Okay,” said Jethro. “It’s time to bring in the nets.”
“I’ll be right there,” his fishing partner, Amos, assured Jethro. “I’ve got our barrels all lined up, ready to sort the night’s catch.”
“Good, good!” said Jethro. “This net is full! I hope we got a lot of fish!”
Amos grabbed the end of the fishing net opposite where Jethro held on.
“Are you ready?”
“Yes,” said Amos. “I’m ready. On the count of three.”
The men positioned their feet securely and tightened their grip on the net.
“One… two… three…” The men’s arms and backs bulged as their muscles strained to pull in the net.
Amos felt a foot begin to slide, and he quickly pushed it against a rock.
They pull-ll-lled at the net, and slowly, scraping and creaking, it came up on the shore.
“Wow!” yelled Amos. “That’s a lot of fish!”
Jethro smiled. His whole face lit up.
“Yes, I think we have a good catch. There’s more fish than trash this time.”
“Awesome!” enthused the other fisherman. “Let’s sort this stuff and get our fish to market.”
Sorting the Fish from the Flotsam
The men tied the net securely so the catch could not escape back into the water.
Then they began to sort. The fish went into one barrel, the flotsam, or trash, into another.
The net had dragged up much flotsam from the sea. There were large seashells, pieces of driftwood and empty bottles in the net along with the fish. The net caught everything that got in it’s path, whether it was good fish to sell or eat, or flotsam and jetsam that was trash to the fishermen. They couldn’t make money from the flotsam, so they threw it away.
Finally the contents of the net was all sorted.
“Check that out!” laughed Amos. “The fish barrel is fuller than yesterday or the day before!”
Again his boss smiled. This was a good day. “Yes, and the flotsam barrel isn’t too heavy to carry to the trash heap. Yesterday we got so much trash we had to haul it in two trips.”
Amos cringed, remembering the hard work of disposing the barrels of flotsam into the dump area. Not only was the path to the dump rocky, there were thorns that constantly grew into the way. And the path was steep, rising up a hill to a sharp drop off into a small canyon where all the fishermen dumped their flotsam. That canyon absolutely reeked. No matter how Amos tried not to breathe the aroma of the dump, he could never hold his breath long enough. And some days, when the trash heap got too big, the pile was burning. Amos thought the days when the dump just reeked was so much better than the days it burned.
No, throwing the trash away was not a good job.
But when that horrible job was done, they had the wonderful opportunity to sell their fish, get paid, then celebrate the day’s catch with a good meal and a nice nap.
Yes, the life of a fisherman was good, Amos thought.
What does this parable teach?
When Jesus finished telling the story to the disciples, he said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
The disciples thought about this.
They did not want to be trash and get thrown into the blazing furnace.
“How can we go with the angels instead of into the blazing furnace?” they asked Jesus.
Jesus smiled. “Come with Me. Love Me and do what I teach, and someday, when you die, you will go with the angels.”
Bible Lesson Teacher Helps
Questions to discuss:
- Why did Jesus tell parables?
- The men in this story are imagined, but they are doing the things Jesus mentioned in The Parable of the Net. What was the work the men did?
- What did the men hope to get in their net?
- There was more than fish that came along when the fishermen hauled in the net. What did they have to do?
- To what did Jesus compare the fish the fishermen kept and the flotsam they threw away?
Object Lesson:
Gather supplies: netting bag such as a delicates clothes washing bag; children’s beach buckets or other containers; good things such as toy blocks; bad things such as sticks, rocks, other trash.
Mix all the things in the bag. Explain that the blocks are like the good fish, and the rest is trash or flotsam. Go through the bag, sorting the blocks from the trash. Compare what you are doing to the lesson story.
Angel Craft:
The angels will escort all God’s people up to Heaven someday. This coffee filter angel has the verse “Guard your heart with all diligence.” to remind you that you want to go with the angels someday.
Click over the to this post to find the head for the angel, the verse glue-on and the directions.
Live life so you can go with the angels someday!
Until next time,
Love, Kim & Dorothy
Find more Jesus’ Parables Children’s Bible Lessons
